This movie also played in Dayton Ohio (a liberal mecca) for over a year. At the time, liberals were committing suicide, running of to Canada, burning flags, and hating Dick Nixon 24/7 for covering up a 2-bit political crime that he had no knowledge of at the time it happened. Lots of angst for hippies back in them thar days.

And as with all things liberal, reality is often replaced with fantasy (most often provided by Hollywood and TV (Primary Colors, The West Wing, etc.) where the villains are all older rich white guys (probably republicans) and the heroes are caring, nurturing (and often troubled) liberals.

Enter Billy Jack. Just how much boring, agonizing, inane peace/love/nuture/defiance/hate/revenge/anti-establishment drivel can be jam packed into a 2-hour cinema experience?

I agree with the long post that suggested that BOTH points of view are correct.

I was a liberal teen when the movie came out. Basically a pre-teen. But it had a big impact on me from the standpoint that everyone I knew thought it was cool and thus it gave me some good insight on what 'cool' was.

Now ANYTHING that's cool in 1071 is NOT gonna be cool even 2 years later, much less a generation ago (except in either a campy or retro way) so, OF COURSE the movie is dated.

But, if you can extend yourself a little bit and see the context of the film...if you can understand the rigidity of the times that those teens were rebelling against...it might help you to understand it better.

Plus Billy Jack is a GREAT character... flat out.

If you remember the flour scene in the ice cream shop and can recall how you felt when Billy Jack rode up in his motorcycle after the children were doused, you can appreciate how perfectly Billy Jack creates a scene for his hero to ride in as the avenging hero.

It's drama 101 worked to perfection.

I'm much more conservative now but, in today's day and age, you have to learn how to filter out the liberal noise in most entertainment in order to appreciate it. See The Colbert Report for details. lol!

So, I still like Billy Jack. Even has a born again believer and Ann Coulter Republican. And not just for nostaligic reasons either. The Billy Jack character REALLY is an all time classic archetype.

My choice for the most under rated piece dialogue in this film comes from 'Drive the Corvette into the Water' scene. It's where Billy Jack says:

Well it may have been violent and maybe he wasn't indian, but living near a small reservation, it was the first time they ever saw indians potrayed in a popular light. Back then being an indian was the same as a dirt word, and he gave them confidence so i wouldn't be so quick to damn the movie. It really started a revolution here in the Upper Penisula where they could be proud of who they were.

Howdy Everyone, after reading many of the comments I find myself in the minority. I love the movie Billy Jack. I do agree that it runs long on hippies singing and improv theater but I love the way Billy is so calm even in the midst of kicking butt. I also like his philosophy, mostly. When I was a kid Billy Jack was a hero, of course, I was raised on Fort Belknap Indian reservation in Montana so maybe that has something to do with it. I do agree that Billy doesn't look like a half-blood but he does look like a quarter which, on most reservations is as good as a full-blood. Take care all. TJ Swanson (cousin to the mosquito).

This is actually the review that brought me to this website in the first place ~ I wuz looking for some information on Billy Jack, was directed here and decided to drop anchor with Andrew and his merry band of bad movie lovers. Please note: "I dropped anchor" does not mean that I dropped it on their heads.

The film was banned in South Africa (as were its' sequels) and this site enabled me to find out more than a little about this famous movie and its' makers, Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor.

Thanks for the review and the sounds, Andrew!

Logged

Questions fell but no one stopped to listenThat eternity was just a dawn awayAnd the rest was sure to comeLeaves, caught in winter's ice

Hes so bad, he's good. Yes, the singing ... torture - when I hear it... I jusssst goooo bizzzzerk. Gene appears to be old enough to be his mother, sometimes... so I agree on the hair thing. But.. if there were a billy shop, I'd buy billywear. Billy rules.

My Grandmother was on the Trail of Tears, and my father told me some of the things that happened back then.

I am SICKENED by the "native Americans" who posted praise for this pile of celuoid crap, but THIS one wins the prize! Hey, runningmountainfawn! (Ooooo, how "indiany" can you get?) The "Trail Of Tears" was in 1838-39 dumbass! How the hell old are you? A hundred? MORE than a hundred?By the way, I'M a "Native American"! My ancestors came to this country from Ireland in 1750! We built this country and helped make it into something! As for those who were here before us, they TOOK the land from their neighbors who couldn't DEFEND it well! Don't try to tell me that "indians" were the "origonal hippies", buster. I'll sick my CHEROKEE and SEMINOLE relitives on your phony-baloney neohippie asses!

lets just say that the movie has not stood the test of time. or as BJ would say (deadpan in a monotone) the wind mumble mumble trees mumble mumble indian spirts mumble mumble nature mumble mumble white devils mumble mumble healing ..and so on for a few more minutes.

The movie was for its time. It had to be good, people flocked to it. The acting was not the best, but it did show the ignorance of our culture to generational differences. It was good to see a Vietnam Vet., getting some glory, after fighting in a thankless War. Now I look around, and the hippies, are the yuppies. These hypocrite whiny people, who were against the Vietnam War, are now Republicans, supporting the Bush War. There will probably be a movie made of Iraq war Vets., comming home and kicking all the yuppy asses that said they supported Bush's War, but were to cowardly to fight in it. Billy Jack, was a movie for it's time. Mike